Kelly Cameron - Page 8

John Malkovich brings his latest theatrical venture to Toronto this weekend as he takes on the role of Casanova in THE GIACOMO VARIATIONS. BWW was on hand this past Thursday as he posed for pictures and answered questions about taking on this iconic role.

Summer in Toronto offers an exciting range of theatrical productions, festivals and events to keep people from all avenues of life entertained. Outside of the city we have the world renowned Stratford and Shaw Festivals, and within Toronto we are blessed with a wide range of summer festivals showcasing theatre, music, art and food. This is in addition to all the wonderful productions we are accustomed to year round.

The Stratford Festival's production of TOMMY was arguably one of the most highly anticipated shows of this season. It marks Des McAnuff's return to the festival and to the 'rock musical' genre, and also marks the twentieth anniversary of the original production. With a cast of some of Canada's best and brightest, the show promised to blow the roof off the Avon Theatre and wow the audience with new sights and sounds.

The Stratford Festival kicked off it's 61st season with a 'original principles' version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, starring Daniel Briere and Sara Topham and directed by Tim Carroll. BWW was on hand to review the first show of the season.

TERMINUS wins big at this year's Toronto Theatre Critics' Awards, which were announced today (awards to be given out at a later date). The awards are determined by Toronto critics who represent five of the city's newspapers: The Globe and Mail (J. Kelly Nestruck); The Grid (Martin Morrow); NOW (Glenn Sumi); The National Post (Robert Cushman); and the Toronto Star (Richard Ouzounian).

Randy Graff, who originated the role of Fantine in Les Miserables on Broadway, is coming to Toronto to conduct an exciting master class this December. Known for her story-telling through song, Randy will focus on teaching that unique ability to her students. She sat down with BWW to talk about her career, the benefits of the master class and her Les Miserables experience.

The Book of Mormon opened in Toronto last Thursday, kicking off a sold-out six week run at The Princess of Wales Theatre. Arguably the most hyped show of the year, Toronto audiences have been clamouring to get tickets to this Tony Award Winning production. BWW was on hand opening night to see if the show does in fact live up to the hype, and we are happy to report that the Mormons are indeed a crowd pleasing bunch.

Acting Up Stage opened their newest production this past Thursday, a new version of Falsettos that is being produced with The Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company. The show was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1992, and took home the prize for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. On Friday night, writer William Finn joined Toronto Star theatre critic Richard Ouzounian for a special post-performance Q&A, where the two discussed the evolution of Falsettos as well as Finn's life and other works. BWW is thrilled to bring its readers photos from the event.

Falsettos is a Tony Award winning musical which explores complicated issues surrounding family and love amidst the backdrop of the emergence of the HIV/AIDS crisis in New York City. It is the latest offering in Acting Up Stage's exciting season, and opens tonight at Daniel's Spectrum (formerly the Regent Park Arts Centre). BWW sat down and spoke with the three ladies of the production, Sara-Jeanne Hosie, Glynis Ranney and Sarah Gibbons about what the experience has been like so far, and about how relevant they feel the material is today:

Toronto's own Kelly Holiff is doing a very special fundraiser at the end of April called 'Hit That Jive Jack', which benefits The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. Kelly is a Toronto based performance who has had leading roles in RENT, Hairspray, Beauty and the Beast and more. She is headlining this concert which will feature vocal classics in a wide variety of styles and highlight some very special guests which showcase the best of the best of Canadian musical theatre talent. This very special event will take place on April 28th at the Capital Event Theatre, and BWW is thrilled to bring its readers this video of Kelly doing what she does best!

On Wednesday, April 3rd Oz had a very special visitor, as Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber attended the all Canadian production of his new musical for the first time. Lloyd Webber was in Toronto last fall for the CBC television show Over the Rainbow, which cast Danielle Wade in the lead role of Dorothy, however he had not yet seen the full production of the show. BWW is thrilled to bring readers photos from the very special curtain call.

Nicky Phillips has a very ambitious new adventure on her hands, having just launched a new company called 'Your Broadway Song' which she plans to expand within both Toronto and NYC. The company designs custom Broadway themed songs for various special occasions, and kicked off with a song written for Canadian legend Colm Wilkinson. BWW spoke to Nicky about how the idea for Your Broadway Song evolved, her feelings on Canadian Musical Theatre and her sources of inspiration.

Clybourne Park opened this week in Toronto and marks the third offering in the Off-Mirvish season. The show is a remount of the hugely successful Studio 180 production from last year, and its easy to see why Toronto embraced it so fully last time around. A Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner, the show tells a story about race relations, community and neighbourhoods. It takes place in the same Chicago house in two different years, 1959 and and 2009. Boasting a strong cast and brilliant writing, Clybourne Park forces us to examine many of our own personal biases, and makes us laugh at the same time.

Steven Reineke's inaugural year as the new Principal Pops Conductor with the Toronto Symphony continues this week with Love Will Keep Us Together. An evening of all the best love songs from across the ages, the show promises to be glowing, glittering and above all, fun. Joining him are Tenor Mike Eldred and Soprano Betsy Wolfe, who just wrapped an exciting run in The Mystery of Edwin Drood on Broadway. She spoke to BWW about her musical influences, the concert, working with Steven and more.

Mirvish Productions celebrates fifty years of producing and presenting theatre in Toronto with their ambitious and diverse 2013-2014, which includes the return of Les Miserables, the tour of the Tony Award Winning Once and the World Premiere of Aladdin. David Mirvish spoke to BWW about bringing Les Miserables back to the city, diversity in programming and building a new generation of theatre goers.

Ramin Karimloo was first bitten by the theatre bug upon seeing Colm Wilkinson in the original production of The Phantom of the Opera in Toronto in the late 80s. Since then he has gone on to play the title role in both The Phantom and Love Never Dies in London's West End, and now will come home to Toronto for the first time in the Mirvish Production of LES MISERABLES which was just announced for their 2013-2014 season. BWW spoke with Ramin about how he feels about coming home, the pressures of the role of Jean Valjean, Sheytoons, protecting his voice and more.

Mirvish Productions is celebrating fifty years of producing in Toronto with their largest and most ambitious subscription seasons to date, starting with the return of the smash-hit LES MISERABLES with hometown boy Ramin Karimloo in the lead role of Jean Valjean. Toronto will also see the World Premiere of ALADDIN, the Tony Award Winning musical ONCE, the World Premiere of Sergio Trujillo's ARRABAL, the North American Premiere of HEARTBEAT OF HOME, critical favourite METAMORPHOSIS and the North American Premiere of THE LAST CONFESSION. They have also announced four exciting bonus shows and their sophomore Off-Mirvish season. BWW is thrilled to bring readers coverage of all the new season has to offer, including feature interviews with many key players throughout the remainder of the week.

Fresh off a sold-out run at Vancouver's PuSh Festival, the brand new original musical Do You Want What I Have Got? A Craigslist Cantata opens tonight in Toronto as part of Acting Up Stage's and Factory Theatre's new season. The show explores contemporary humanity through the unique (and sometimes) wacky lens of Craigslist, the online classified site with over 50 million ads posted each month. To celebrate the show's opening night, BWW sat down to speak with a handful of people involved in the production to get a better idea about the show, about Craigslist and about musical theatre in Canada.

Toronto Theatre Critic's take to the stage this Sunday in a special benefit performance of You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, with proceeds going to The Actor's Fund. Featuring Kelly Nestruck, Robert Cushman, Glenn Sumi, Sheila McCarthy and Melody A. Johnston, the show also includes BWW's own Kelly Cameron as one of the Snoopy's. In this special feature, she talks about her hidden desire to be force to be reckoned with on-stage, setting the bar a smidge above terrible, and humbly requests that you throw bones in lieu of tomatoes.

Nina Lee Aquino has a very commendable vision - she wants to see more diversity in our world's theatres (and more specifically, here on Toronto stages). To that end, she has spent many years championing diversity in the arts and her upcoming show 'Every Letter Counts' is no exception. The play is a re-imagining of the life of an important political icon from the Philippines, Benigno 'Ninoy' Aquino. She sat down with BWW to talk about her journey with EVERY LETTER COUNTS, her focus on diversity in the arts and her 'retirement performance' in Les Miserables.